The Hunger Games


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The version of The Hunger Games that opens in the U.K. will not be the same movie fans stateside get to see. Due to a minor ratings snafu, the U.K. version will apparently be 7 seconds shorter than the U.S. cut. So what's missing?

In an effort to get a PG-13-esque rating, the producers cut or digitally altered some violent actions and blood splatter, according to the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) report.

The changes were made at the recommendation of the BBFC to secure a 12A classification, which makes the film available to a younger audience. The movie had been facing a higher 15 certificate that could have left some younger teens on the outside looking in.

Per the official BBFC report, the cuts mostly affected just one scene of the film.

"A number of cuts were made in one scene to reduce an emphasis on blood and injury," the report states. "These cuts, which were implemented by digitally removing sight of blood splashes and sight of blood on wounds and weapons, were made in accordance with BBFC Guidelines and policy. An uncut 15 classification was available. These cuts were made in addition to reductions already made following an earlier 'advice' viewing of an incomplete version."

Considering the movie's premiere—a post-apocalyptic tale of teenagers battling to the death in a warped reality show—it's more than a little amusing that a few blood spatters are what caused the stir.

But it's not terribly uncommon for movies to make changes to get a lower rating (heck, some even nix whole storylines), so it's nice to see that no major cuts were apparently made to bring Suzanne Collins' acclaimed young adult novel to U.K. screens.

http://blastr.com/2012/03/the-7-seconds-of-hunger-g.php

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Around the middle of last week, The Wife and I were talking about this movie. She asked me if I knew anything about it, and I told her, outside of it being based on a series of books, I knew nothing. She then explained the general concept which she had heard from a GMA or Today Show interview (or something). At that moment, my ire was raised because it sounded too much like Battle Royal. So I resolved to skip the movie and the books.

But then I saw the trailer at the theater this weekend, and it blew me the fuck away! From said trailer I was able to tell that, yes, there are similarities to Battle Royal, but it's different enough that The Hunger Games is its own thing. So I told The Wife I was wrong to compare it so directly to the Japanese franchise, and it looks like we might see it together when it comes out next week.

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The kids fighting each other to the death premise by government mandated lottery is similar to Battle Royale, but that's about where it ends. Also, for anyone comparing it to Twilight, yes, there's a love triangle, but again, that's about where the similarities end.

As you can probably see from the thread ( :P), I recommend reading the books, mainly because you'll be going through each one in about a day. Once you start reading, it's near impossible to stop. In fact, here, have the first chapter.

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I watched it with my girlfriend today, neither of us liked the movie. There were good parts to it but the movie as a whole was not good. As a fan of the book, they took out a lot of plot points i thought were kind of big. Taking away my knowledge of the book, There was no character development, the characters you're meant to care about you don't give a shit about. The cinematic presentation was horrible, the movie was too quiet until some one spoke or something happened on screen, the CGI looked like some one's fifth grade project, and who ever was behind the camera was epileptic. I write horrible reviews but there is my two cents.

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Finished the book a week ago; saw the movie today and thought it was great. There were a few details left out, slightly altered, or compressed for time, but at 2.5 hours the movie was about as long as possible already, so they did a great job with what they could do.

The shakycam didn't bother me much; it only became a problem once or twice. I really don't have any outstanding complaints, though I would like to see a super-extended cut, LOTR-style, to go into a lot of the details that weren't able to be left in.

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Yeah I really enjoyed it, the shakycam was really distracting at first but it got better as the film went on. The acting was superb, the only weak performance was Prim, but she wasn't in the film that much. Overall I really enjoyed it and I can't wait for catching fire.

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I loved it, I thought the camera work was really good, the shaky cam was meant to show chaos and it only really happened a few times. I loved the part when Katniss got stung by the tracker jackers and the film kept skipping. I didn't think any important plot points were left out. Overall it is one of the best book adaptations I've ever seen.

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Just got back from this. They did recontextualize some things, for sure, that will be interesting to see how those play out further down the line. But overall, this is an excellent adaptation, and the setup they've done for future installments was well done. And ended up crying at a few points during the movie, like I expected to, and the friend I went with and I were clinging to each other in terror at a few points.

The change in media, from book to movie, was always going to take something away from the Hunger Games, I think, because of the message that is at its core. But they managed to still convey the "oh my god why do we consider this enertainment" ness of the book. And the way they wove in the exposition with the new focus was extremely well done. I did love seeing a bit more of the Capitol, and the way that Haymitch had to work things (even if that wig is godawful).

Looking forward to the next installment in the series.

(Also? Lawrence looked WAY too pretty in the arena, and pretty well-fed for trying to keep from starving to death. But that's more a Hollywood issue than anything else. Also, every actor can't be Bale.)

On the race thing, though: we were walking out of the theatre, and there was a woman complaining that they played the race card with Rue and Thresh. Seriously, people. Read the damn book. Rue AND Thresh are both described as black in the book. It's not some conspiracy. (Though, having

District 11 being the only one who rioted, and Thresh getting mauled to death by dogs offscreen? Really, Hollywood, please think about the contexts of these things, they can be just a little bit problematic.

)

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Funny thing, when I first read the book I completely missed the fact that Rue and Thresh were supposed to be black. I think I read "dark brown skin" as being super-tanned or a little multi-racial, sort of like how Katniss was supposed to be a little darker-skinned. Also, Katniss always describes Rue as being a lot like Prim, so I guess I sort of overlaid Prim's image onto Rue in my head. So when I saw the movie version of Rue I was a little surprised. Not offended or anything, just curious. I went and checked the book and verified it, then spent the next few days re-setting my mental image of Rue before seeing the movie.

I'm not denying that there are some racist people out there, but I do think that a lot of the talk about Rue being unexpectedly black has been genuine confusion, not literal hate.

I thought the District 11 riot was pretty amazing. I mean, in the book they were the first and only district to ever give a gift to a tribute outside their own district, so they clearly reacted to Rue's death far more than most other districts ever had before. Also, in the book Thresh died WAY offscreen, without even an explanation, so the movie was a step up in that regard.

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I saw it today. The only thing keeping me from calling it amazing is the camera work. It's bad enough that everyone has to "Bourne up" their action scenes, but there is no excuse for shaky cam on still scenes. Hollywood invented the steady-cam for a reason.

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the

dogs genetically engineered from the dead tributes in the book? Why leave that out? It shows how little the capital thinks of the lives of the people from the districts.

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Oh don't get me wrong, I LOVE that they had them riot, and it makes perfect sense that they did, and I thought it was a powerful scene in the film. And I'm not complaining that Cato's death offscreen was different than the film. In both of those contexts, though there are some parallels to some painful aspects of black history (race riots, incidents in the south where blacks were mauled to death) that they maybe should've thought twice about.

I'm okay with the shakycam used in the Games, cause it makes sense for it to be there. Prior to that, not so much, but it wasn't intolerable.

Well, they had to hit the PG-13 somehow. :P

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